November 10, 2005
The Winds Of November Came Stealing
It was thirty years ago today the "Edmund Fitzgerald" was reported missing.
From the Strib of the day:
A cargo ship with 35 crew members was reported missing Monday night in treacherous waters in Lake Superior, the U.S. Coast Guard said.It's interesting how, of the hundreds of sinkings on Lake Superior, the Fitzgerald is the one that's passed into legend. If memory serves (and we have help, here), it was the biggest ship ever lost on Superior, but by no means the biggest loss of life.The 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald was last heard from at about 7:30 p.m. about 15 miles north of Whitefish Point near Sault Ste. Marie off the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, officials said...The coast guard in Duluth said that a 1,800-foot seagoing buoy tender, the Woodrush, left Duluth last night to search for the Fitzgerald. He said a coast guard tugboat, the Nawgatuck, departed Sault Ste. Marie in the search. Also, he said, airplanes from an air force base in Michigan joined in the search. An Oglebay-Norton spokesman said shortly before midnight that “we haven’t given up hope yet.”
A coast guard spokesman said bad weather had plagued the search. “The seas are so bad,” he said, “it’s almost hazardous for a boat to go out tonight.”
Waves in the area were reported at 25 feet high. They were accompanied by winds gusting to 75 miles per hour, the coast guard said.
Maybe it was the era. As the Strib writer points out:
New York City was on the financial rocks. Karen Ann Quinlan was on a respirator. Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme was on trial, accused of attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford. Movie buffs were flocking to the Downtown Mann to see Redford and Dunaway in “Three Days of the Condor.” Pot roast cost 79 cents a pound at Penny’s Super Markets, a Northland Bantam hockey stick cost $1.29 at Holiday Village, and a brand-new AMC Gremlin would set you back $2,889.The sinking was never conclusively solved.
It happened at a time that was the nadir of modern American history. Perhaps it's emblematic - a mighty ship built at the height of Eisenhower's wave of optimism would, a year after Watergate and right in the midst of Stagflation and the WIN buttons and the AMC Matador, set sail and turn into the wind and...fall apart. Disappear. Give up the ghost and just sink.
Indulge my English major's penchant for drawing parallels - but sea stories reflect the times, I think. The USS Maddox's story, a pure Cold War concoction by guys in white shirts and skinny ties and crew cuts, perfect for the Johnson Administration. Ditto the Pueblo and Nixon; secretive, no answers, something just not quite right. The USS Cole - ambushed by terrorists that the administration at the time didn't want to admit were a big enough problem to act on.
And what better story for the Ford/Carter years?
Posted by Mitch at November 10, 2005 05:21 AM | TrackBack
Curious that Michele Bachmann has never been cleared of responsibility in this sinking.
Rediculous.
Posted by: Eva Young at November 10, 2005 07:27 AMEither Mitch mistyped or the Strib is wrong - "...The coast guard in Duluth said that a 1,800-foot seagoing buoy tender, ...". A 1,800 foot tender would more than twice the length of the Fitzgerald and almost twice the length of a modern Nimitz class aircraft carrier. It is more likely that it is a 180 foot tender. Did the Strib run a correction? Why am I even asking?
Posted by: NARM listener at November 10, 2005 07:59 AMLOL.
It was a strib error. I copied and pasted it directly.
I don't think there's even a supertanker that long...
Posted by: mitch at November 10, 2005 08:05 AMAnd, as should be tradition, here is Mischke's interview with an expert on the issue:
http://www.theatlantic.com/ram/shipwreck28.ram
Posted by: Jerry Leigh at November 10, 2005 08:21 AMIsn't the real tragedy the Gordon Lightfoot song?
Posted by: angryclown at November 10, 2005 10:17 AM"Indulge my English major's penchant for drawing parallels - but sea stories reflect the times, I think. The USS Maddox's story, a pure Cold War concoction by guys in white shirts and skinny ties and crew cuts, perfect for the Johnson Administration. Ditto the Pueblo and Nixon; secretive, no answers, something just not quite right. The USS Cole - ambushed by terrorists that the administration at the time didn't want to admit were a big enough problem to act on."
The USS Abraham Lincoln: the president lands on a carrier in a GI Joe flight suit, a banner in the background reading....
Posted by: angryclown at November 10, 2005 10:33 AMNote to self: cross music off the list of possible areas of common ground with A. Clown.
Posted by: chriss at November 10, 2005 10:57 AMThe guy who wrote "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" thinks "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is tedious and repetitive.
Posted by: angryclown at November 10, 2005 11:15 AMA. Clown calling something 'tedious and repetitive?'
Posted by: chriss at November 10, 2005 11:19 AMPot... Kettle... Black?
"The USS Abraham Lincoln: the president lands on a carrier in a GI Joe flight suit, a banner in the background reading...."
..."Mission Accomplished", which was true in terms of offensive operations (esp. involving the Navy). But even the major media's comprehensive illiteracy about miltiary matters didn't matter in the face of the perfect storm of agenda-driven lying that would ensue for the next three years". You're getting the hang of it, AC!
"tedious and repetitive"
This from a guy that's been a *Mets* fan for 40-odd years?
Posted by: mitch at November 10, 2005 12:27 PMOh, yeah - and the song was just fine. In those pre-Ramones, ante-Sex Pistols days, it was vastly less sucky than most of what was on radio.
Posted by: mitch at November 10, 2005 12:35 PMGreat song. If you like socialized Canadian Content broadcasting.
Pinko.
Posted by: angryclown at November 10, 2005 01:03 PMAC FUN WITH EDITING:
"Indulge...the president ...on a carrier in a GI Joe flight suit, a banner in the background reading...angryclown
Posted by: mitch at November 10, 2005 01:34 PM"The USS Abraham Lincoln: the president lands on a carrier in a GI Joe flight suit, a banner in the background reading...."
Actually, it is very common in the military for ships or units that come back from deployment to have banners with "Welcome Home", "A Job Well Done" and "Mission Accomplished" hanging.
"If you like socialized Canadian Content" broadcasting."
Say what you will about the CBC, they have showed all of the following, which major US network TV has not:
Unedited episodes of The Kids in the Hall (CBS has shown edited versions in the past)
The fascinating documentary The Good Woman of Bangkok
Live coverage of the 1980 Olympic hockey game between the US and the USSR (ABC showed it on tape delay, choosing to run old tapes of Dorothy Hamill instead)
And, of course...Saturday night is "Hockey Night in Canada" !!!
Posted by: Just Me at November 11, 2005 07:57 AMPlus the Canadians did send troops to support us in Vietnam. At least that's what Ann Coulter told me.
Posted by: angryclown at November 11, 2005 08:57 AMOooh, that Ann Coulter. Doesn't she must make you MAD!?!?
Posted by: mitch at November 11, 2005 09:11 AM
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